Sister Marie Rachel Forster
1915-2009
Sister Marie Rachel wrote:
I am ever grateful for God’s marvelous gifts to me, starting with my loving, caring, faith-filled parents who gave my life its original direction. Then there were the fine Dominican women who taught me. . . . Yes, there were tears along the way, times not easy to understand, but God knew what He was doing and sent enough treasured persons into my life to affirm, encourage, bolster me up, keep me on the path.
Sister Joan Sustersic, Prioress of Holy Rosary Mission Chapter, described Sister Marie Rachel Forster as “a woman of wit, wisdom, and deep spirituality.”
She was born on April 20, 1915, in Detroit, and baptized Lucille Frances, the oldest of the five daughters of Joseph and Julianne (Grohman) Forster.
Both parents were natives of Saginaw, Michigan, and of German ancestry. In fact, Joseph Forster came from a family of nine children, and only two had been born in the United States. He was one of them. In his youth, he had wanted to become a Benedictine, and had spent time in the Monastery in Conception, Missouri. His health, however, was not good enough for the rigorous life of a Benedictine, and he was forced to leave. He did not return to Saginaw, but went to Detroit where he attended the University of Detroit to finish his education with the Jesuits. It was in Detroit that he married Julianne Grohman, who had also left her home city of Saginaw. After his marriage he worked as an auto assembler and provided a good life for his family.
The family was living in Centerline in 1920 when Lucille started her education at St. Clement School. She was five years of age, was “too immature,” and as a result, she left school after seven weeks. In 1922, seven years of age, her parents enrolled her at Holy Name School in Detroit, and the next year she was put into third grade. Sister Clare Genevieve, at that time Genevieve Huddas, remembered those days. She and Lucille were classmates, and she remembered Lucille as a “brainy kid.” Spelling bees were often held, and Lucille was frequently among the last ones standing. This time also included over two years of piano lessons.
For high school, Lucille was sent to St. Joseph Academy in Adrian, where she and Verna Fisher (the future Sister Ann Kathleen) became good friends. Both graduated from the Academy in June 1933, and both entered the Adrian postulate on September 3. They were clothed in the habit and given their religious names on August 9, 1934. At this reception ceremony, something unforeseen happened. The Bishop skipped a name, and each received the name the person next to her expected, rather than the name she had asked for. Lucille became “Sister Marie Rachel” instead of “Sister Annella.” After the required novitiate year, she with her group professed her first vows on August 13, 1935.
Almost immediately after profession she was on her way to Detroit, where she spent seven years with middle grade students. Her first assignment was at St. Augustine School as a teacher of fifth grade. She wrote that she had “a bad start with the discipline of a large class.” The classroom had not been readied, and the children were unruly. She also found cooking and kitchen work hard. “It was the one time that I felt discouraged and like going home.”
Things must have improved, for she was there for two years. She was then sent to Holy Name for four years and to St. Brigid for a year. As a result of study during the summers, in June 1939 Siena Heights College (now University) in Adrian awarded her a bachelor’s degree with a major in Latin and minor in French.
In 1942 she was assigned to St. Philip Neri School in Chicago, again with middle grade students. Sister Frances Lombaer said, “Sister Marie Rachel taught me in sixth grade at St. Philip Neri in Chicago. She was a a good teacher, firm but gentle, and we did some fun art projects that year.” During these years, grief entered Sister Marie Rachel’s life in January 1948, when her father died suddenly of a heart attack.
After eleven years at St. Philip Neri, she was sent to Winslow, Arizona, where she taught second grade at St. Joseph School for a year. In August 1954, as a result of summer study, she earned a master’s degree in Latin from De Paul University in Chicago.
Brought back to Illinois, she spent eight years at Ascension in Harvey on the junior high level.
She wrote, “There I had one of my richest experiences of community.” There, also, Denny McLain, who later became a famous pitcher on the Detroit Tigers’ professional baseball team, was one of her seventh-grade students. At the time Sister Theresia Scheuer was also missioned in Harvey, and she remembered a story that Sister Marie Rachel told her.
When she turned twelve years old, her mother told her she was too old to believe in Santa Claus, so she explained to her that there was no Santa Claus. When Easter came along, her mother didn’t think she should believe in the Easter bunny, so she explained to Sister that there is no Easter bunny. For quite a long time after that, she worried that her mother would tell her that there was no God. That story really touched me deeply.
Sister Carol Johannes had also taught in Harvey at the time, and she described Sister Marie Rachel as “a delight to live with—so much fun!”
Many of the pastors in the area were building convents, and we had a beautiful new convent. It was a model for the area, and other pastors would come to see it. But we had difficulty with the heat and water. A pastor came to see the convent, and she quipped, “Tell them not to put in any heat or hot water, because they don’t work!”
She appreciated the funny things that her children did, and she would sometimes share them with us. One time she showed us a paper that a child had written. The child wrote, “The cow is grazing on the pastor.” She had taken the name off the paper so no one could ridicule the child.
Beginning with 1962, Sister Marie Rachel spent four years outside the States at St. Thomas Moore School in Nassau on the Bahama Islands, again with junior high students. She wrote:
Religion was well established there, and there were many sects. The Catholics were not as active church-goers as some of the others. . . . It did seem that our sisters filled an education need on the island, and no doubt many persons’ lives were enriched.
In 1966 she was brought back to Michigan, where she taught and lived for the balance of her life.
These ministries began with Holy Name, Detroit, for the second time, with eighth and fifth grades. In her file is an article entitled “Tiger’s Ex-Teacher” in an undated, unnamed newspaper from those years. A large picture of Sister Marie Rachel is displayed, holding a bat preparatory to hitting the ball, with one of her students behind her as catcher. In the article, she revealed that she played baseball as a youngster, and that she had been present at one of the games that made Denny McLain famous. During an appearance at a K-Mart store, Holy Name children surrounded Denny, and got him to promise to visit his former teacher. Sister Marie Rachel hoped that he would visit, as this would be a big thrill for the children. There is nothing about this in her autobiography, however, and whether or not he visited Holy Name School is not known.
After three years at Holy Name, she transferred to St. Jude School, also in Detroit, where she taught for eleven years. The death of her mother in 1979 again brought sorrow into her life.
In 1980 she became a teacher at Our Lady of LaSalette in Berkley for the first semester of the 1980-81 school year, her last year in the classroom.
She wrote about her teaching ministry, “Always I enjoyed teaching.”
Sometimes I did that during the summer, too. During some summers I studied . . . did census work, taught Catechism, helped once in the kitchen of a convent while others attended classes, worked a few times at the Boys’ Camp at Lake Petite.
About leisure time activities, she wrote:
My hobbies are jigsaw puzzles, various types of puzzles in newspapers and puzzle books, card games, especially pinochle.
When she left Our Lady of LaSalette, she found a position as a foster grandparent at Wing Lake Development Center in Bloomfield Hills. In this ministry she worked with severely mentally impaired children for three years, and tutored individual students in the evening.
After that, she tutored for a few months, then joined the Oakland Livingston Human Services Organization and was assigned for a year and a half as a library aide in the Royal Oak Public Library, continuing her evening tutoring. She then served for two years as an outreach aide at the Royal Oak Senior Community Center, helping senior citizens to get rides with volunteer drivers, also doing some private tutoring. Her supervisor gave her an “excellent” rating.
She ceased these activities in 1988, but remained at St. Mary Convent in Royal Oak volunteering her services, including private tutoring. She remained there until the convent and the surrounding area were sold in 1992, when she moved into the Regina Residence, Adrian, continuing to do volunteer work. While the Residence was being renovated in 1997, she lived in Weber Center, then moved back into Regina in 1998. In 2002 she found it necessary to become a resident at the Dominican Life Center/Maria, where she remained until her death on January 30, 2009. She was ninety-three years of age.
A wake-remembrance service was held for Sister Marie Rachel in St. Catherine Chapel on February 3. Sister Joan Sustersic, Prioress of Holy Rosary Mission Chapter, summarized Sister Marie Rachel’s life and ministry, and spoke of her activities after her return to Adrian.
She read at the liturgy with her strong voice. . . . She was so thin that she was always cold and carried her afghan/blanket with her, not unlike Linus [in the funny papers]. . . . She had a way of speaking very quickly which enthralled everyone. . . . She used to walk very quickly—almost run—but in recent years her walking slowed, as did her eating. But she maintained her smile and her outgoing manner. Recently she declined food, but she was very peaceful in the dying process.
Sister Frances Lombaer said:
When she lived at Regina, we went out to dinner a couple of times, but I soon learned that she wasn’t much of an eater. After that, we went to the Chocolate Vault in Tecumseh, where she would enjoy an ice cream sundae. I was glad that we had a picture of her with her favorite blanket that she wrapped around herself. Many of us tried to give her a different one but she wouldn’t hear of it.
She also liked to manicure the plants in Regina and Maria. However, with her failing eyesight, she sometimes plucked new buds, too, instead of the old leaves.
She had a beautiful singing voice and was in the choir for a while. She also was a lector at Mass. She was known to keep a journal with all the activities that filled her day.
Just a month ago, at Christmastime, we took a wheelchair tour of all the Christmas decorations in Maria, Regina, Madden, even Weber. I enjoyed the tour, and I think that she did, too.
Sister Mary Alice Naour also spoke.
She loved flowers. Any time there was a funeral, she would be there to take off the parts of the plants that had died. Her family knew that she loved flowers, and sent a lovely bouquet for this occasion.
She and I shared the same birth date, so we often shared happy birthday messages and had fun that way.
Father Roland Calvert, OSFS, was the presider and homilist at Sister Marie Rachel’s funeral liturgy on February 4. She was then laid to rest in the Congregational cemetery.
Sister Marie Rachel will be missed. But those who love her realize that she no longer needs a blanket to keep her from the cold. She is now basking in the warmth of God’s love.